I'm a fan of SF/F and that's what the majority of my reading material was before I discovered romance. So I tend to lean towards wanting to read the same stuff in my romance. But oh, some of these authors just do NOT get it. I'm currently reading Jaid Black's The Empress' New Clothes from Ellora's Cave. Now I've read lots of books from EC. Some are good, some are not so good. So far, Empress is right smack in the middle. While I'm rather enjoying the book, there are many times that I'm brought out of the story and find myself giggling over certain things the author has done.
And now for those things that I dislike in futuristic erotic romance that I'm reminded of when I read this book:
1. Human women are always whisked off to some world ruled by massive, barbarian-esque men where men are strong and rule the world and women are only there to give them pleasure.
2. Said women are always "clothed" as little as possible. See-through cloth reigns supreme. Let the ogling commence!
3. These authors like to pick and choose which words they want to change to highlight that you're on an alien world. I'm not talking like using an alien word for money or animals, I mean like, for example, calling a vehicle that seems to fly a "floating conveyance". Puh-lease! You're just making me laugh! Either call it something else or make up some alien word and always use that to refer to it. This use of weird words is one reason I giggle while reading Jayne Ann Krentz's futuristic romances. Though, yes, I still read them. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.
4. Flowery words for male appendages *g* Again, I laugh everytime testicles are referred to as "man sacs". Now, I know this is not specific to futuristic romances, but it still irks me.
Well, I think that's enough for now. I will still read this genre, but I'm sure I'll still be laughing at these instances as they occur in the books I read.
Now more about the book. It's the basic alien barbarian king who's seven feet tall finds out his soulmate is on another planet and goes to get her, not caring that she wants to stay right where she is with her friends and family. Said alien doesn't care and thinks that because she's his soulmate, they will live happily ever after and have lots of good sex together. Human woman is NOT happy with all this, especially when she realizes that skimpy clothing is a must-wear. She tries to resist, he befuddles her brain with passion until she can't think straight. He can't understand why she isn't happy, she thinks he's a stupid oaf, but a cute stupid oaf, and oh, "why can't she resist him, she finds herself so attracted to him, yet doesn't want to be".
I haven't quite decided if she's a TSTL heroine. I'll let you know once I finish the story.
And for a futuristic erotic romance that really works, read Celestial Passions: Brianna by Judy Mays. It's also an Ellora's Cave release. It's fabulous and the sequel should be out soon. I can't wait!
Edited Feb. 18,2004:
Finished Jaid Black's The Empress' New Clothes. It wasn't too bad, but it was by no means a spectacular book. I'd give it a C+. It's certainly erotic (though not terribly arousing) and interesting, but there were things that just made me giggle a little too much and the heroine is occasionally TSTL. Not to mention I'm kinda tired of the whole ultra-alpha male. All in all, I didn't mind reading it and I actually might read more books in the series. I just know not to expect much out of them and just enjoy the show.
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